The Great Unfamous

If you like underdogs and cheesecake -- you’re in for a treat. Greg Franklin's story is a cross between "Rudy" and Will Smith’s "The Pursuit of Happyness".

Featured in the book “Don’t Keep Your Day Job” by Cathy Heller, Greg described an annoying voice in his head that just wouldn’t go away. It pestered, persisted, and repeated the same thing over and over: “You’re gonna make cheesecakes?”

So Greg Franklin did just that …

These Are Greg's Lessons:

4:07 -- Overcoming No

5:38 -- The Voice He Couldn't Ignore

18:17 -- 3 Years to Perfect the Recipe

21:51 -- Fired on National Cheesecake Day

25:31 -- Life of the Cheesecake Ninja

27:30 -- Myth of "I'm not good at"

30:28 -- 5 Things I Learned

31:00 -- Cathy Heller's book, podcast

36:56 -- The Amazing Saul Blinkoff

37:42 -- My Wife's Patience

39:14 -- Finding Positivity

40:30 -- How, When To Take The Risk

42:30 -- Finding The Cheesecake Ninja

How to Find Greg Franklin:

For the record, when it comes to spirits and the paranormal, I wouldn’t call myself a believer or non-believer, but ever since a strange encounter in The Gettysburg Hotel in 1999, I’d call myself curious … Enough that my wife and I now take ghosts tours in most of the cities we visit -- which is how I met Brian Bloxsom. Brian was by far the best. His captivating tour was a window into the history, haunts and people of Asheville, North Carolina. And when I learned about his career as a 6th grade teacher and football coach at Rugby Middle School, plus his recovery from a motorcycle accident that required 17 surgeries -- I knew this was a person with lessons to share.

These Are Brian's Lessons:

5:44 -- 5 Lost Hours

11:23" -- What the hell is he doing in my house?"

16:19 -- Seeking acknowledgement

22:00 -- Opening Doors, Knocking Pipes, Cigar Smoke

27:06 -- A Gettysburg Ghost Story

33:18 -- Non-normal passions

38:03 -- Lessons in regret

42:52 -- Greatest influence

49:08 -- Don't leave it untried

We talk a lot about givers on this podcast. Nancy Vinsel typifies the classic giver with a mother mentality -- sacrifice, grit and positivity. She's overcome cancer twice, run a marathon, and earned a law degree at the age of 50. Listen and learn what it takes to evolve from a mother at 20 to an attorney at 50 and why age, motherhood and cancer could not stop her once she discovered her true strength.

These Are Nancy's Lessons:

3:45 -- Motherhood at 20

9:52 -- Benefits of nerd humor

11:29 -- 5 Things I Learned

12:30 -- "I'm not a great runner but I don't give up."

25:16 -- Protect your positivity

27:25 -- A moonlight message

29:49 -- Second cancer: "I am one fortunate woman"

34:01 -- "You've got to deal with it, you can't just put on a happy face."

33:54 -- "I've always thought of myself as a cork caught in waterfalls."

36:10 -- What does it mean to be a strong person?

39:45 -- Advice for those who think it's too late.

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More on The Great Unfamous:

In this mini-episode, we go off the leash a bit. That's because the guest is not a person, but a book. We unpack James Clear’s "Atomic Habits" in great detail via my attempt to build just one habit over 66 days. We dive into the real stories about ...  

• What I learned?
• What went wrong?
• What surprised me?
• What was harder than expected?
• What was easier?
• Why it made me more grateful.
• And why this book is the most practical tool I’ve ever come across for change?

I hope you enjoy it.

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More on The Great Unfamous

You probably don’t know many lawyers like Ashley Herd. She’s funnier than most. She’s bold and kind. She proves that empathy in the workplace matters via the inside joke. As a lawyer, Ashley is widely regarded as an expert in employment law and human resources having led legal teams and HR departments for notable organizations like McKinsey, KFC, Cumulus Media and Modern Luxury. But how she shares that experience with people is the story. She offers her down-to-earth wisdom for free on TikTok, Instagram and LinkedIn with a wink and nod that teaches employees and managers how to build trust and avoid conflict by stressing the value of empathy.

These are Ashley's Lessons:

4:05 -- Origin of Luke

7:57 -- Power of Standup Comedy

15:44 -- My Breaking Point

20:50 -- Before You Quit, Do This

26:01 -- Field Hockey From a Book

30:10 -- 5 Things I Learned

34:22 -- How to Find Silver Linings

37:35 -- Walk Your Dog in the Pouring Rain

41:57 -- My Biggest Influence

49:01 -- "I Can't Do That"

In this episode, we meet Tania Yuki, a woman who reinvented social measurement back in the day with her company Shareablee in 2013 and now again as the CMO of comScore.  But she's no garden variety take-no-prisoner founder or C-suite executive.  If you dig deeply you'll learn she’s best known as a storyteller, a mentor and a role model who takes a stake in the success of others. She lifts others up and helps people find their own answers. So let’s meet the brightest voice in media and find out how she came to be that way.

These are Tania's lessons:

3:29 -- Tania's punch-in-the-mouth question

7:48 -- Solve problems by relating to people

12:44 -- When I have no idea

17:51 -- What I learned from cat Iggy

20:54 -- What I learned from surfing

21:38 -- What I learned from Covid

23:21 -- What I learned from my new son Ben

25:15 -- My leadership style, Wimlink

29:55 -- What if I'm not taken seriously

32:35 -- Dealing with untrue thoughts

35:11 -- My biggest influence

36:57 -- My film on my parents' unlikely pairing

41:40 -- Advice for outliers

42:32 -- Getting to what's next

This year-end episode is a highlight reel of the wit and wisdom uncovered in 2022 via interviews with The Great Unfamous. It’s a rapid-fire recap of the different ways you can start walking a better path in 2023. We uncovered lessons, stories, ideas and even a few tearful revelations that showed how everyday wisdom is right under our noses, everyday. 

We met a wiseman from Bangladesh, a Chile river guide, a Hollywood movie maker, a Texas carnival owner and host of other neighborhood legends with insights to share.  I’ve picked my favorites to share with you because there’s no better way to start the new year than to pause and consider what we learned … and then apply it to the year ahead.

So let’s find out what these inspirational influences had to share and unpack the wisdom of The Great Unfamous.

These are their lessons:

1. Givers Need To Refuel -- 3:40

2. Solve Disputes Like A Wiseman -- 5:08

3. Don’t Give Someone The Keys To Your Happiness -- 8:20

4. The Courage To Bet It All -- 11:33

5. Shine The Light On Others -- 16:09  

6. How To Recover From Loss -- 17:07

7. No Time To Feel Sorry For Yourself -- 18:16

8. Feed Your Head The Right Stuff -- 19:43

9. How To Jump Into An Unmade Bed -- 20:40

10. The Trick To Negative Feedback -- 23:15

11. Wait ... I’m Supposed To Be In Italy! -- 26:05

Welcome back to the Part 2 interview with Selwyn Seyfu Hinds -- a master creator who developed everything from magazines, to books, to comics, to TV series. If you haven't listened to Part I, do that first otherwise you’ll miss amazing stories like his near-death escape from The Starlite ballroom.

Selwyn's credits are too long to list, but one of his greatest accomplishments was guiding a young, now a legendary journalist Datwon Thomas, during his early years.

He was the right person,

at the right place,

at the right time,

with the right advice.

In this episode we relive Selwyn’s defining moments, what he learned from those and how you can apply those to your own life.

These Are Selwyn's Lessons:

3:27 Jump into an unmade bed

6:06 Know your value

8:28 Research your value

10:20 Magic of turning 50

18:10 Rejection is not failure

20:15 A long lost pep talk

22:50 "Can you meet me at KFC?"

24:45 Why I couldn't give up

25:10 A town of "no's"

27:20 The day HBO fired me

32:26 "We fall down but we get up"

33:45 Asking for, accepting help

35:25 Maybe I suck?

37:12 Stephen King, sci-fi, comics

44:07 "Lone Wolf and Cub"

46:33 My journey to Vertigo

48:31 "Voodo Child's" return

51:58 What I'd change

53:30 Be the god of your own universe

Selwyn Seyfu Hinds describes himself as a storyteller who believes success is a group effort. So when Datwon Thomas recalled his most influential mentor, it was Hinds who came to mind because he took an interest in the aspiring journalist when he needed it most.

He was a force Datwon admired for creating magazines, books, comics, scripts that moved people.

He was a big brother who shared the life lessons a young Black man in Brooklyn needed.

He was a sage that Datwon called … a flashlight who revealed the things he could not see.

Hinds is a Guyana-born journalist who chronicled the rise of Hip Hop in the '90s as the editor-in-chief of its bible, The Source and later in his memoir “Gunshots In My Cookup”. Selwyn graduated Princeton and went on to become an American screenwriter, comic book creator and film producer -- just a few of his credits include Jordan Peele’s reboot of "The Twilight Zone" and executive producer of Hulu’s new series “Washington Black” due out in 2023.

So let’s meet the man who changed Datwon’s life by being “a really, really good person who stayed on me, but gave me space”.

These are Selwyn's Lessons:

3:07  How do you describe yourself?

6:45  Re-inventing Selwyn the Storyteller

8:07  From Guyana to Brooklyn to Miami

11:13  Princeton and Protests circa 1989

13:02 I got to college and lost my mind

14:03 Times Square, joining the Army

15:50 I wouldn't let any change break me

21:04 My dad was comfortable in all circles

24:01 My brush with death

32:14 It's a miracle we got out of there

38:48 Words of wisdom for Datwon

40:55 "Remember who you are"

44:30 Story behind "Washington Black"

51:05 The big pitch: Hulu, FX and Fox

54:20 "They bought it in the room"

I’ve known Jason Hoffman for more than 7 years and in that time I’ve learned more from him than any other person in my life. His daily 5-minute chats have unlocked things I never thought I could do.

More importantly, he’s done this for thousands of people who needed a little help to believe in the potential within themselves. He’s relentless in his positivity, authentic, honest, and backs his words with actions. There’s almost nothing he hasn’t seen in the personal fitness space.

Yes, I’m healthier, stronger and will live a longer life because of Jason Hoffman, but the real gift he offered was a different way to think about myself, the world around me and the revelation that every action begins as a thought. So when it comes to building yourself up, the most important thing Jason teaches is to develop a strong, powerful, curious, positive mind.

So let’s hear from my mentor and great friend and learn why the people who know him call him simply, "the best".

These are Jason's lessons:

9:16 ... Where does change start?

11:20 ... Making your 'shoulds' your 'musts'

13:40 ... My most memorable client

20:10 ... Top 5 people you spend time with matters

22:52 ... Your mental diet

25:40 ... Tim Ferris, Marcus Aurelius and mindset training

27:55 ... My only real regret

30:05 ... The big lie: You're not worthy

32:43 ... 3 ways successful people think

35:01 ... 3 reasons people struggle

37:25 ... My most critical influence

40:14 ... "Take that $300 or you're not my friend."

43:40 ... Impactful life of a teacher

47:13 ... The art of starting

This episode is the a-side of a conversation with Datwon Thomas, a man who who has more friends than anyone you’ve ever met.

It’s not because he’s a legend is music circles, which he is -- Editor in Chief of Vibe magazine, VP of Cultural Media for all Penske brands, which includes Rolling Stone, Variety, Billboard and 30 others. He was the EIC of hip-hop’s authority DoubleXL, King magazine, Rides magazine. He's produced the Billboard Music Awards, American Music Awards, Country Music Awards -- even Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin' Eve. He’s done it all.

But the real reason Datwon is special -- is because if you met him -- you would remember three things about him -- his smile, his laugh and his heart. He’s one of the most beautiful human beings you’ll meet and we’re gonna learn why … and who helped pave the way for him.

These are Datwon's Lessons:

5:16 -- Life as a creative

8:40 -- Burden of being a connector

13:45 -- Wisdom of Mr. Homer -- Live, learn, let go

15:25 -- How I earn respect

18:22 -- One thing I learned in Brooklyn, South Carolina, Japan and Albuquerque

25:30 -- Kevin Powell, Scoop Jackson

27:23 -- Life lessons from Selwyn Seyfu Hinds

31:14 -- 'Gunshots In My Cook-Up'

32:01 -- Fast cars, Music and Best Advice

36:30 -- My reality checks

39:09 -- Good or bad, this too shall pass

42:40 -- Back to the Future and thinking heroes

44:47 -- Datwon's mantra: Gratitude of love

48:19 -- Being a source of energy, recharging

49:57 -- How you make people feel

51:27 -- Terry: 'Thank you for everything'

Datwon's Book Recommendation

In the previous episode, 6a, we talked to Cory Gearrin a former major league pitcher who made a career out of beating the odds. In that chat, he credits one person with being at the right place, at the right time, with the right words that changed his life ... and that’s his Cape Cod League manager Mike Roberts.

So in this episode, we talk with Coach Roberts, the first person that taught Cory how to trust him and himself.

If you measure the worth of a person by their accomplishments, Coach Roberts has plenty -- a college ballplayer, drafted by the Royals, two decades as head baseball coach at North Carolina, manager of the Cotuit Kettleers, and not the least of which, father of Brian Roberts, a two-time major league All-Star.

But if you measure a person’s worth by the people they help, Coach Roberts is … in a class by himself. So what happens when a coach takes 20 minutes to talk to a 19-year-old kid he just met that changes his life forever?

Let’s find out and meet Mike Roberts, a coach revered for his baseball knowledge who teaches young men about life on and off the diamond.

These are Coach Roberts' lessons:

3:10 -- Coaching Pirates, Cape Cod's Cotuit Kettleers

4:18 -- 4 rules for every ballplayer

6:13 -- 1 unforgettable image of Cory Gearrin

9:28 -- 15 pitches and a life-changing conversation

11:11 -- "I beg you do not sign"

13:16 -- A risk worth taking

14:26 -- What HOF Coach Dean Smith taught me

17:53 -- 20 minutes of listening

21:51 -- I'll take the blame

25:55 -- How to get ballplayers to believe in themselves

33:10 -- Advice for underdogs

Coach Roberts' Book Recommendations

In this episode, we meet former Major League pitcher Corey Gearrin who relays a 20-minute conversation that changed his life. As an un-recruited, un-drafted ballplayer who beat the odds at every level, this piece of advice not only launched his professional baseball career, it taught him something priceless about himself.  

Cory spent 10 seasons in the bigs with the Braves, Giants, Yankees and others based on a mindset of owning your dream. He explains what that means and more. So if you like perseverance, underdogs, real-world inspiration, or baseball, stick around because Cory's story has something for you.

And by the way, his Twitter feed @CoryGearrin is a must-follow. But for now let's hear the tale that typifies what The Great Unfamous is all about.

These are Cory's lessons:

7:39 -- Google your dream

8:36 -- Own your dream

9:20 -- My first break

11:46 -- A fire ignites

19:21 -- The day that broke me

24:15 -- I'm never gonna put my happiness in someone else's hands again

27:20 -- Making a mental adjustment

29:25 -- What's throwing mid-70s mean?

32:44 -- Coach Robert's offer

39:47 -- An unexpected call from Tampa

42:05 -- Coach Robert's advice

45:22 -- Saying no to fear

48:26 -- Betting it all on myself

53:31 -- From un-drafted to 4th Round

57:14 -- What now?

1:03:52 -- What would make Cory proud?

1:06:28 -- Honor the best possible version of yourself

Contact Cory Gearrin:

Twitter @CoryGearrin

Instagram @CoryGearrin

In this episode, we shine a light on a woman who changed the life of her niece. It may not sound that remarkable until you consider the fact that before she could do that, she had to navigate the worst nightmare most of us could imagine.

Dr. Johnette Hartnett is the aunt of Kate Bradley Chernis who we met on the A-side of Episode 5. That’s where we learned that Johnette’s support sparked Kate to co-found the startup Lately by introducing her to a company named Walmart.

But before Johnette changed Kate’s life, she had to reconstruct her own. That’s because four decades ago she lost all three of her children, David John, Johnette and John Peter, in a house fire in Vermont. How she recovered from that unimaginable tragedy to start a new life of purpose and service is filled with lessons that will help anyone dealing with loss today.

That’s because Johnette did not give up. She dug until she found a sliver of hope and then built on it brick by brick. She went back to school to earn a masters and then a doctorate, she was selected for a Kennedy fellowship to Congress and eventually moved to DC where she co-founded the National Disability Institute. She fueled her own recovery by building programs that to this day are transforming the lives of millions of disabled Americans.

So whether you’re struggling to overcome your own personal loss or simply seeking to find more grace, kindness and gratitude -- Johnette’s story is a window into how to build it, one baby step at a time.

So with that, let’s meet Kate’s aunt, a remarkable woman who dealt with her own pain by relieving the pain of others.

These are Johnette's lessons: 

3:09 -- "She didn't flinch, not once"

7:29 -- Changing the conversation

8:09 -- How do we talk about grief?

9:17 -- Everybody has a right to grieve

10:39 -- These books aren't meaty enough

12:06 -- Tremendous guilt

14:13 -- Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

16:58 -- A Buddhist monastery in the Catskills

17:48 -- A pinecone, a fire and a sliver of hope

20:23 -- "You have a red aura around yourself"

21:11 -- Recognizing hope, taking baby steps

22:30 -- "It wasn't about the fire."

23:05 -- Recovery is a choice

24:00 -- Finding your anchors

26:42 -- Building with baby steps

29:30 -- Listening vs. telling my story

33:00 -- Getting control of the chaos

34:27 -- Healing begins with doing, ends up with being

35:00 -- We are life

36:11 -- Grateful for 11 years of family

39:13 -- "I'm a good person."

40:30 -- Falling in love with your problem

42:05 -- "OMG, you're wearing black and brown!"

43:57 -- As we give to others, we forget about ourselves

Kate Bradley Chernis is one of the smartest, most creative and downright likeable founders in technology today. I had the good fortune to work with her in 2019 when we used her technology to launch a new social channel for Gary Vaynerchuk’s personal brand.

Kate, aka Kately, is the co-founder of the remarkable AI-based technology, Lately. But she’s more than that. She was a music director and on-air host at Sirius/XM, a radio producer, a marketing expert, a strategist and a scholar. But most of all she’s a master communicator. In this conversation we find out where her superpowers came from and who is the most influential person in her life. 

The B-side of this episode, an interview with Kate's greatest influence the remarkable Johnette Hartnett, will drop on 6/1/22.

Now as Kate would say, let 'er rip …

These are Kate's lessons:

3:40  People think they're boring

4:50  Don't be the brightest light in the room

6:03  What makes a favorite

8:31  Why I hated poetry

12:05 I've made a grave error

13:05 Overcoming Moped situations

17:29 Aunt Johnette

20:25 Rebuilding after tragedy

22:00 Rock-and-Roll ideas

25:11 Embrace your punk rockness

26:06 She never rolled her eyes

27:30 Are you happy?

29:51 Ending a 100-mph day

32:54 Struggling is part of it

In this part 2 interview we meet the most influential person in Max Ivey’s life. If you haven’t heard Max’s backstory, I urge you to check out Episode 4a. His tale of life in a carnival family, losing his sight and how he turned his greatest challenge into his greatest calling card is a uniquely inspirational ride.

His transition from carnival ride broker to published author was due in large part to his greatest influence -- Lorraine Reguly -- a woman who overcame her own share of adversity and published a book on how she fought her way back from a life-threatening depression. Lorraine is now an author, English teacher, and public speaker who guides people on the how-to of book editing and publishing.

In the A-side of Episode 4 we meet a true original, a one-of-a-kind maverick whose story is one of adversity, positivity and fearlessness. The chapters of Maxwell Ivey's life include growing up in a Texas carnival family, losing his sight in high school, launching his own business and authoring three books with a fourth one on the way. 

Ty Smith, has a calm, warm demeanor that suits him. When someone teaches what to do when white water meets the unexpected, that's the kind of guy you want. But Ty was impacting lives long before he graduated university with a masters in Environmental Science. Before he started guiding people down dangerous rivers, he guided a 7-year-old boy down a path to appreciate the outdoors and what it meant to be woodsy. As a role model at Canada's Camp Hurontario, he became known as the counselor of counselors.

Today, Ty’s a white water rescue trainer who teaches people conservation by guiding them down some of the world’s most amazing waterways from Quebec’s Magpie River to the Futaleufu River in Chile. His perspectives, values and approach have a calming Zen that belies the importance of their message.

These are Ty Smith's lessons:

2:22 Power of a handshake

4:21 Counselor of counselors

11:24 A close call

16:37 Being weird in the best possible way

18:10 Hunt for Red October

23:39 What's it mean to be woodsy

26:54 Ty the artist

28:45 3 core values

30:32 Jaw-dropping river expeditions

Canadian Ty Smith, is a river expert. He earned a BScH and MSc in Environmental Science, teaches white water rescue and has guided on rivers from Ottawa to Chile. But when Stewart Hillhouse met him at the age of 7, Ty was just a camp counselor at Camp Hurontario. His impact on Stewart sparked his passion for green spaces, the wilderness and a commitment to something Ty refers to as "being woodsy".  Stewart would cross paths with Ty again at age 14, and once more in his 20s, each time revealing new learnings that he carries with him today.   

These are his lessons.

5:12 A passion for canoeing

9:43 Power of a handshake

13:27 When no one's watching

15:01 Leave it better than you found it

17:51 We're all figuring it out

19:09 Hunt for Red October

22:15 Ty the artist

23:36 Never in a rush

27:47 Go one level woodsier

In this Part 2 segment on Aziz Rahman's lessons, his grandson Mir Shithil, now a practicing physical therapist in Edison, NJ., translates his grandfather's words of wisdom about how caring for people is the only way for you and your community to move forward. 

These are his lessons. 

2:50: Why were you considered the village leader?

3:25: Why did you help so many people?

4:13: Why did people come to you for advice?

5:05: How did you solve conflicts?

6:44: Why is your community the key?

7:52: A special story of one family's success

8:58: Advice for those who want to live a good life 

Aziz Rahman has taught many lessons to the people of Haragach, a small rural community on the outskirts of Rangpur in Bangladesh. But no one soaked in more knowledge more quickly than his 8-year-old grandson Mir Shithil, now a practicing physical therapist in Edison, NJ. Mir shares the tales of his greatest influence and how he learned to wield and not wield a machete while building bamboo shelters for his neighbors. But even more important, he learned to appreciate other people's perspectives and how to solve disputes with questions and compassion -- all by tagging along with his grandfather, a Bengali legend in his village revered as a teacher,  peacemaker, wiseman, and humanitarian. 

These are his lessons. 

6:38 Aziz's many roles

9:18 Machetes, bamboo, charity

11:17 Helping by listening

15:18 How to save a dog's life

19:18 Aziz's core beliefs

20:04 Helping by questioning

22:26 People's untold story

25:12 Extreme curiosity

Alex Sullivan is the first in our series of The Great Unfamous. Trained as an occupational therapist who practiced for more than 20 years, Alex impacted the lives of more than 300 children and their families. But this is the story of her impact on me and my family and how it served as a roadmap for the decades that followed. She is one of the most talented, funny, creative, fearless, insightful professionals you'll ever meet, and although her work was legendary, she did more than teach me about autism, she taught me how to live a life of courage and kindness. As a mother of triplets, Alex shares her own journey and why 'Welcome to Holland' is a story that holds meaning for nearly everyone.